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Sherra Triggs of Inwood, West Virginia, serves as the Program Director of STARBASE Martinsburg located at the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Sherra started with the program in 2004 as a Program Instructor shortly after the program opened in 2003. In 2005 she became Deputy Director and was named Director of the program in 2007.

Sherra graduated from Shepherd University with a bachelor of science in Computer Information Systems and Programming and went to work for a local software company. It wasn’t long before she realized that spending her days behind a computer felt mundane and was unfulfilling. Upon the urging of her academic advisor, she became an adjunct professor at a local community college teaching introduction level computer classes and there she found her true calling. Quickly, Sherra went back to school to earn her teaching certificate and began teaching K-5 in the local school system.

At the same time Sherra began her teaching career, STARBASE Martinsburg was forming at the 167th Airlift Wing. After two years with the local school system, Sherra joined the STARBASE Martinsburg team as a Program Instructor for their first full year of academies. It was a match made in heaven!

By 2006 Sherra stepped into Deputy Director for the program and shortly after, in 2007 she became Director where she has been since, steadily growing the program. In its humble beginning, STARBASE Martinsburg had one classroom, and offered only 28 academies yearly. During the course of her leadership, the program has grown to operate 3 classes daily reaching over 2,500 students in 90 academies a year. Currently, STARBASE Martinsburg reaches every 5th grade student in the two geographically surrounding school districts.

In 2006 Sherra was selected as the Teacher of the Year by the Air Force Association and through that, developed a vital partnership with the organization that would eventually lead to the opening of a new program located in Winchester, Virginia.

Sherra is a member of the Curriculum Team for DoD STARBASE and various STEM outreach committees in the Martinsburg area. She is working to set up a not-for-profit component that will help alleviate some of the stresses of funding program expansion. Also, it is her vision to expand their after-school STARBASE 2.0 program to every local middle school, offering students continued STEM activities after their initial STARBASE Martinsburg experience.

When not at STARBASE, Sherra enjoys spending time antiquing for unique finds, spending time with friends and family, spoiling her fur babies, Amos and Jaeger, and quite possibly most importantly - cheering on her favorite collegiate team, the West Virginia Mountaineers.